The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday appointed the Block Development Officers (BDOs) from local bureaucracy as administrators of panchayats, in the wake of the end of the term of 28,000 panchs or elected grassroots representatives on January 9.
“The term of Halqa Panchayat(s) has expired on 09.01.2024 and the government is satisfied it cannot be constituted immediately,” reads an official order.
Invoking the powers under Section 9 of the Jammu and Kashmir Panchayati Raj Act, 1989, the government appointed the BDOs as administrators “for running the affairs of the panchayat halqas under their jurisdiction for a period of six months from January 10, 2024 or till further orders,” it added.
With the term of panchayats coming to an end, there is no elected institution in vogue in Jammu and Kashmir. The terms of both urban local bodies and panchayats have completed their term in the past six months. The previous Assembly elections were held in 2014 and Jammu and Kashmir has seen no elections since the PDP-BJP alliance fell apart in 2018.
